IGN

• PC
• PS4
• PS5
• SWITCH
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

While the similarities with its predecessor can make Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals feel too familiar, highlighting a few missed opportunities for expansion of its puzzle mechanics and for fresh worldbuilding, it still creates an intimate but epic adventure. The world is built out just enough to feel fresh and to lead you to some unexpected and surprising places. However, its real strengths are its characters. Riley’s story is a standout, but she and Jacob come together to form a bond that carries you through to the (possibly) bitter end. The choice is yours.

• PS4
• PC
• SWITCH
• PS5
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is one of the best games in this almost 20-year-old franchise and a great RPG. While its overall story is a bit of a retread, its amazing pacing, and in-depth battle system, make it a satisfying conclusion to the Crossbell and Cold Steel arcs. It also makes good use of its admittedly way-too-large cast of playable characters. That said, newcomers who are unfamiliar with the series will certainly be lost without having played the previous games. However, it's well worth doing so in order to experience one of the best RPG universes ever crafted.

• PS5
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

“Unrealized potential” feels like the story of AEW: Fight Forever as a whole. So much of it feels like a very good start, going full gear with bouncy animations, the quick pace of the action, and fun and effective character design. But almost all of its good ideas are hampered by bugs and opaque or outright useless systems. Its big single-player mode is poorly written and, though it's a relative breeze to complete and full of branching options, it’s all out of good ways to point you to them. There’s a strong foundation to bet double or nothing on in a sequel down the road, and I think there's still fun to be had here with like-minded friends who are content with casually beating each other up, but this is no wrestling game revolution.

• PC
• SWITCH
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Dave The Diver is a tremendous and unforgettable RPG adventure that I can’t put down. The story and characters are full of heart and charm, the underwater exploration and restaurant management are easy to lose time to, and the sheer number of weird minigames and other surprises that are packed in the 30-hour adventure ensure things never grow stale. Even with wimpy bosses, simple puzzles, and a fair number of bugs, Dave The Diver has so many other interesting and intriguing things going on that it’s easily one of the best games I’ve played this year so far.

• PS5
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Final Fantasy 16 will very likely be looked back upon as a turning point for mainline Final Fantasy games, taking its combat fully in the direction of an action game, but I hope that conversation doesn’t overshadow its dark and captivating tale, memorable characters, and the innovative ways in which it helps you keep track of it all. The Active Time Lore feature is incredible, and should be standard for all story-driven games going forward, and while the combat may not live up to the sky high standards as some of the best games in the character action genre, among other action RPGs, it’s near the top of the heap. Pair all of that with one of the best soundtracks of the year, incredible performances from top to bottom, and drop dead gorgeous visuals, and you’ve got a game worthy of an orchestral Final Fantasy victory fanfare.

• SWITCH
• PC
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

As someone who loved the original Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life as a child, I find its 2023 remake difficult to recommend over other farming sims with more expansive worlds, more interesting stories, and more satisfying progression. Marvelous has admirably updated the graphics and gameplay to cater to a more modern audience, but those improvements only do so much when the heart of it feels as dated as it does. Its standout feature is still the way the town and NPCs impressively adapt and age over the course of its potentially 30-year campaign, but there aren’t enough noteworthy characters or rewards to make me want to stick around that long, either. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life doesn’t offend, but it sure doesn’t impress either.

• PC
• PS4
• XONE
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

If not for the technical issues, this would be easily one of the best Aliens games ever. And it still probably is. Borrowing from some of the greatest squad-based tactics games and adding its own twists, I don't think I've played anything that really gets what was so cool about Aliens, the film, since Monolith's Aliens Versus Predator 2 way back in 2001. And many have tried! It's the sort of game that makes me wish I could look the other way and praise it even higher, but on balance, I just can't. With a few weeks in the med bay for a bit of extra technical polish, it could shine up nicely into something amazing. As-is, it's still an intriguing, inspired, imaginative survival RTS that I can enthusiastically recommend, but only with some caveats.

• PC
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

Park Beyond does a great job tapping into the childhood whimsy that theme parks can elicit. There's a great sense of wonder to be had by impossifying rides, and the simple interface makes it easy to do. Incrementally unlocking new rides and increasing park capacity is rewarding, and creating something utterly ludicrous can be a blast. But that joy dissipates quickly when parks become unmanageable, as the attendees get stuck, staff ignores pressing needs, and financial ruin springs seemingly out of nowhere, while bugs and crashes make a late-campaign difficulty spike a miserable slog. Like riding an unfinished roller coaster, there’s fun to be had until the eventual crash, but it feels like this park just isn’t ready to be opened.

• PC
• XSX/S
• PS5
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

Layers of Fear serves up a series of atmospheric and often surreal trips through the shattered psyches of some seriously tortured artists. It’s made all the more eye-catching thanks to Unreal Engine 5, and the addition of the flashlight provides some interesting new ways to both interact with your surroundings and mitigate the frustration of the stalker encounters previously suffered in the original games. However, its sleight of hand scare tactics are still all too clearly telegraphed and this predictable formula grew stale long before I reached the end of each of its main story threads. Ultimately Layers of Fear comes across as a largely scare-free 13-hour crawl through a string of mildly creepy hallways as opposed to a truly terrifying trek into darkness.

• PS4
• PC
• PS5
• XONE
• XSX/S
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

F1 23 is a far heartier package than F1 22, with 26 tracks, the enjoyable next chapter of the Braking Point story mode that began in F1 2021, and – for players who love to recline back into the couch and race – the best gamepad handling in the series, ever. The racing-focused secondary career mode F1 World is also likely to be a step in the right direction after last year’s F1 Life for some, although it's equally probable its arcade-inspired, loot-based upgrade system will be divisive amongst traditionalists.

• PC
• 3 / 10
• États-Unis

Greyhill Incident is a fitting name for this awful horror game, because that’s how I’ll refer to the traumatic time I spent playing it. The fact that it so wholly mangles so many of the things it tries to pull off, from its story to its stealth, certainly feels like a conspiracy – and one I wish the government would have done a better job of covering up. I still can’t decide if the idea was to be ironic or scary, but Greyhill Incident fails in either scenario, resulting in a tedious but mercifully short jaunt through cornfields and backwater abodes that’s about as fun as actually being probed by aliens.

• SWITCH
• PC
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a powerful visual novel that mixes a world-bending story with deeply personal stakes. Helpful quality-of-life features like the ability to go back and re-read earlier messages are also as approachable as they are omnipresent. It takes a while to get going, though it also makes familiarizing yourself with its somewhat dense lore easy thanks to a built-in codex that explains most of the in-world jargon required to understand what’s going on. But hidden between Reverie’s magic and metaphors is a story firmly rooted in the power of community, reflecting the resilience of the human spirit itself.

• PC
• PS4
• XONE
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Diablo 4 is a stunning sequel with near perfect endgame and progression design that makes it absolutely excruciating to put down. The story is a pretty big disappointment despite still being a noticeable improvement over Diablo 3 and there are some annoying bugs that need squashing, but the combat, the loot game, and both the sights and sounds of this world are impressive enough to smooth over those rough edges. Diablo 4 takes the strategy of refining things the series already did so well rather than giving it a more substantial overhaul, and that careful and reverent path has shaped this massive sequel into one of the most polished ARPGs ever created, which makes slicing through the legions of the damned a hell of a good time.

• PC
• PS4
• PS5
• XONE
• XSX/S
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

I can't say Amnesia is still a groundbreaking horror franchise like it was at the beginning. The larger story it was building has already been played out with Rebirth. But Amnesia: The Bunker proves that smaller, anthology-style episodes within its universe can still bring the tension and the scares. And Frictional's bag of tricks is far from exhausted when it comes to getting our hearts pounding and making us carefully consider how to use the limited tools available to us. It's not an unmissable experience, but as an Amnesia fan, it definitely sated my appetite for some gut-churning horror and moody, bleak storytelling.

• PC
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

Starship Troopers: Extermination’s early access version is pretty light on content, but already does a decent job of pitting a large group of marines against an overwhelming force of alien bugs, and building fortifications gives you something to coordinate on as you hold out long enough for a thrilling extraction. That said, my recommendation to those who would need to be convinced to drop their current forever game and enlist is to wait and see how early access comes along over the next year. The building mechanics are solid and add a new dimension to the co-op squad shooter genre, but you’ll exhaust most of that novelty quickly and then have to grind out your new class abilities repeating the same missions dozens of times. With some time, Extermination could become the premier bug-stomping romp for big teams, but in its current early state, mobile infantry can do the dying without you.

• PC
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Where many modern games invite you to sit back and enjoy the ride, System Shock wants you to sit up and experience the SHODAN. Tweaking the technical workings of Citadel station to come out on top and foil SHODAN's machinations is just as compelling as it ever was, making the original System Shock one of gaming's classics for a very good reason. Nightdive's remake masterfully brings most of the aspects that haven’t aged as well into the present day, with excellent new graphics and nearly all the modern gameplay conveniences you could want. Get out there and give her hell, hacker.

• PC
• PS4
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Street Fighter games are always benchmark moments for the 2D fighting game genre, but Street Fighter 6 feels extra special. The Drive System is an incredible addition to the fighting mechanics that gives you a veritable Swiss Army knife of options and meter-management decisions right from the start of every single round, the starting roster is the best Street Fighter has ever seen, its online netcode through three betas has been impeccable so far, and the number of smaller details that it nails right out of the gate is unprecedented. It’s so good that even the poor story and extremely slow progression of the single-player World Tour amounts to only a jab’s worth of damage on its metaphorical health bar. Whether you’re completely new to fighting games or are a seasoned vet, Street Fighter 6 is a must play.

• PC
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

After Us is difficult to recommend for its platforming alone, though its nature-focused kitsch gives way to gorgeous visuals as you breathe life back into its post-apocalyptic world. Some of its levels left a grin on my face, whereas others had me begging for sweet release from the inconsistent controls and directionless world. At least there’s a silver lining in that its beautiful art direction and entrancing musical score make for some really cool sequences. And yet I can’t help but feel like After Us is too heavy-handed about its environmentalist themes for a video game that hardly characterizes its protagonist and has literally no dialogue. By the end, I felt like I’d have done less environmental damage had I simply chosen to skip it.